The Garden Grove City Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, attracted an overflow crowd. Many were there to speak against a plan that would grant the developer of the Great Wolf hotel a lease and potential purchase rights of the Willowick Golf Course. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Santa Ana and Garden Grove residents who live near the Willowick Golf Course thought they had time before the cities signed off on plans to develop one of central county’s largest open land parcels.

But Garden Grove, which owns the 102-acre golf course that is in Santa Ana’s city limits, is looking to sign a 55-year lease on the property with the developer of the Great Wolf water park hotel. That deal could give the company the right to sublease the land to other developers while generating long-term income for the city.

And while city officials on Tuesday, Dec. 11, agreed to delay voting on the lease plan, they rescheduled that decision only until next week, Dec. 17, the same day a judge is expected to rule on a community group’s request to delay the cities’ plans until a final decision is reached on the lawsuit that targets Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

Residents were caught off guard. They said that the city wants to launch the deal before Jan. 1, to get around a state law that requires a city to make “surplus land” available for affordable housing and parks.

“You’re trying to rush this deal because there is a legal case open for this land,” Cynthia Guerra, a member of the Rise Up Willowick Coalition, told the Garden Grove council on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

Willowick Coalition members asked Garden Grove officials to kill the deal and consider instead letting the county’s oldest public 18-hole golf course be declared a public land trust that could be used for parks, community centers and affordable housing for the area’s working-class community.

Some argued that the plans for the property will hurt residents in the surrounding low-income neighborhoods, driving up property values, increasing rents and forcing some people to become homeless.

“If you do this, we will have nowhere to go,” said Byron Lopez, a Santa Ana resident who lives next to the Willowick golf course. “We’re already dealing with rising rents as it is.”

Garden Grove Mayor Steven Jones, in a brief interview, said the city has to weigh what is best for all residents as officials decide the fate of the city-owned land.

“We’re trying to be conscientious of the future of the site,” he said.

In the past decade, Garden Grove has tapped into Anaheim’s tourism industry, building a number of hotels, sometimes with tax incentives and other assistance from the city. Jones said hotel taxes now contribute about $26 million to the city’s $130 million annual budget and have become “the economic engine that fuels the city.”

But residents who oppose the plannoted that both Garden Grove and Santa Ana have fewer parks and open spaces, per resident, than other communities in Orange County.

“We need to put the garden back in Garden Grove,” said resident Nicholas Dibs.

The deal contemplated by the city would be a 55-year lease with MWillowick Land LLC, affiliated with McWhinney Real Estate Services, Inc., for an initial payment of $2 million. McWhinney, which developed the Great Wolf and other hotels, would be able to buy up to 30 acres of the property and could lease out the rest to other developers. The city would receive 85% of the sale or rental income, and MWillowick would receive 15%, according to a city staff report.

Earlier this year, officials in Garden Grove and Santa Ana held public workshops that led to three “vision concepts” for the land: a new stadium, which would eat up half the land, a “district” with a large corporate tenant plus a cultural or educational center, or either a tech or agriculture-focused campus that might include “creative and flexible office spaces” surrounded by small parks.

But residents of the Willowick coalition complained that the city didn’t reach out to their community. And they noted that as the city prepares to vote on the plan, there isn’t yet much detailed information about how the land would be developed.

“I am appalled and disappointed that you all have not been transparent with the process,” said Sandra de Anda, a member of the Willowick coalition.

Cynthia Guerra, appearing on the screen, tells the Garden Grove City Council: “You’re trying to rush this deal.” Guerra asked the council to kill a plan to develop the Willowick Golf Course until there’s consideration for open space, community centers and affordable housing. The meeting took place in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. The council postponed any action until Tuesday, Dec. 17. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Nick Dibs tells the Garden Grove City Council that he wants to see the Willowick Golf Course left as open land. “Once you build on top of this…it’s gone,” he told the council on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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Jonathan Abakumoff of Orange holds up a sign for affordable housing after he spoke for a public comment during a city council meeting in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. Garden Grove city officials are considering leasing the 102-acre Willowick Golf Course to a company that built the Great Wolf Lodge. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Sandra De Anda told the Garden Grove City Council that their plan to turn over the Willowick Golf Course to a developer will lead to rental increases and displacements. “Residents in Orange County are one check away from becoming homeless,” she told the council on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Cynthia Guerra, a Santa Ana resident, told the Garden Grove City Council that they are rushing into a long-term lease for public land because they want to avoid the requirements of a new law that kicks in Jan. 1. She addressed the council during public comments on December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Attendees watch public hearing in an overflow room during a Garden Grove city council meeting at City Council Chambers in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. Garden Grove city officials are considering leasing the 102-acre Willowick Golf Course to a company that built the Great Wolf Lodge. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council member George Brietigam Garden listens to public comments in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council member Phat Bui listens to public comments in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council member Stephanie Klopfenstein listens to public comments in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council member Kim Nguyen listens to public comments in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council member Thu-Ha Nguyen listens to public comments in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council member John O’Neill listens to public comments in Garden Grove on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

The Garden Grove City Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, attracted an overflow crowd. Many were there to speak against a plan that would grant the developer of the Great Wolf hotel a lease and potential purchase rights of the Willowick Golf Course. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Garden Grove City Council members listen to public comments on a plan to turn over the Willowick Golf Course to a developer, although there are no specific details provided to the public. The meeting was held on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. Garden Grove city officials are considering leasing the 102-acre Willowick Golf Course to a company that built the Great Wolf Lodge. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

On Oct. 7, the non-profit Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development, known as OCCORD, filed a lawsuit against the cities of Garden Grove and Santa Ana, accusing the cities of violating the state’s Surplus Land Act, which calls for public land to be prioritized for affordable housing and open space uses.

Last month, the group won a temporary restraining order. The next legal showdown, to be held in Los Angeles Superior Court, is expected on Tuesday, Dec. 17, when a judge is expected to rule on the group’s request for a preliminary injunction. If granted, it would prevent Garden Grove from consummating the deal before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, amendments to the California Surplus Land Act that expand requirements for local agencies, go into effect Jan. 1. They’re among dozens of new laws recently signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that aim to tackle a housing crisis and increase the number of affordable homes.

Even without the amendments, an attorney representing OCCORD argues that the law prevents the city from selling the publicly-held land without first opening it to those who could develop it into open spaces or affordable housing.

City officials disagree, saying the current law does not require a city to treat all publicly-owned property it wants to dispose of as surplus land.

But Newsom’s signature of AB 1486 “substantially” amends the law, City Attorney Omar Sandoval acknowledged in an Oct. 9 letter to an attorney with Hadsell, Stormer, Renick & Dai, the Pasadena-based firm that filed the lawsuit.

The city had put on hold the various plans proposed for the property and has since heard alternate proposals that could lead to a sale prior to Jan. 1 if the city “finds that the price is acceptable and the disposition is for the common benefit of its constituents,” Sandoval wrote in another letter, dated Nov. 13.

Brian Olney, the attorney representing the community group, summed it up this way: “They don’t think they’re covered now. We disagree. But they’re rushing ahead to get any deal done this year because of the amendments to the law.”

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